Fitch girls win first district track title since 1999

May 21, 2011 at 12:09a.m.

austintown

Two of the girls were already in dresses and the rest were doing a celebratory backpedal toward the locker room.

It was 6:30 p.m. and prom was going to start in an hour.

But the party had already started.

Thanks to typical brilliance from the likes of seniors Ali Tolich (who dominated the throws) and Jen Shiley (who won the 300 hurdles and helped the Falcons win one relay and finish second in two others), and unexpected performances from junior Theresa Scott (who finished third in the 100 out of Lane 8), freshman Liz Mosier (who took second in the 800) and senior Kaity Shiley (who won the pole vault), the Fitch High girls won their first Division I district track and field title in 12 years, easily holding off Warren Harding on Friday at Fitch High School.

“I think it’s very special,” said Falcons coach T.J. Koniowsky. “We’ve got a pretty senior-laden team and they’re all going to prom, yet they were able to focus up and not worry about it or get catty about it or jump ship on us.

“Years ago, they’d be like, ‘I’m not going to run in the district then.’ Not this group.”

With the title already clinched, the Falcons finished the meet in style, with freshman anchor Jayme Ritchie finishing just in front of Harding to win the 4x400-meter relay in 4:02.25 — just a second off the 25-year-old district record.

“It feels amazing because this is our senior year and we’re going to out with a bang,” said Jen Shiley, who ran the second leg of the 4x400 relay. “It means a lot.”

Unlike Tolich, who finished in time to get dressed before the meet ended, Shiley was still in uniform to the end and admitted prom never left the back of her mind.

“Oh my God, you run and then you think and then you run again and then you’re like, ‘Am I going to be late?’” she said. “And then you wonder if it’s going to storm.

“It’s so hectic, but it’s so much funner because it makes the prom even better.”

Fitch, which last won a girls district title in 1999, qualified for next week’s regional in all four relays and has at least one regional qualifier in 10 individual events.

“This is the most successful senior class we’ve had in a long time,” Koniowsky said. “They really worked their butts off this year.

“They started training in November and indoor season started in January. Hopefully we’ve got two more weeks to go.”

On the boys side, Fitch’s boys finished an area-best fourth, while Boardman was fifth. The Falcons were hampered by a hamstring injury to senior Waylan Andrews, who scratched the 100, didn’t run in either relay (both qualified anyway) and gutted out a third-place finish in the 400. Boardman sophomore Nathan Jones won the 100, finished second in the 200 and helped the Spartans place third in the 4x200 relay.

The top four in each event advanced to next week’s regional, which will be held Wednesday and Friday at Fitch High School.